A Unique Challenge: Marine Subtidal Ecology at UW Friday Harbor Labs by Pema Kitaeff & Alex Lowe Despite windy weather and choppy water just the day before, the morning of Friday June 22nd 2018 dawned gloriously sunny and calm: a gift of optimal conditions bestowed on the patient planners of field work. Few have been  Continue Reading

San Juan Island photographer Bob Stavers shares some photos from his recent trip to Utah… I recently spent a week in Zion National Park with a wonderful photographer and teacher, Matt Suess. Here are a few images I am working on from that very productive trip. I hope you enjoy them.  Just click  here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/44888236@N00/albums/72157697726925890

The SJC Land Bank invites you to to meet your new Orcas Stewardship Staff and throw in a little habitat restoration to boot. Join us in the oak restoration units to help plant plugs grown in the Salish Seeds Project nursery. We will depart promptly at 9:45 am from the South Trailhead parking area (Deer  Continue Reading

The Land Bank’s new Stewardship Coordinator, Erin Halcomb will lead us on the Goldenback Trail – a relatively new trail within the Land Bank’s Westside Preserve. In 2016, the property was generously gifted to the Land Bank by the Reiss family, and the half-mile trail was constructed shortly thereafter. The trail is moderately difficult, a  Continue Reading

  A panel of San Juan Island Master Gardener volunteers will share their ornamental obsessions and inspire you to join them in their love of salvias, roses, and plants with beautiful leaves at the Annual Gardening Workshop, this Saturday, October 20th. Ornamental garden plants aren’t ‘idle lovelies’ – they create pollinator habitats and bird joy,  Continue Reading

  The San Juan County Master Gardeners are pleased to welcome Craig Cogger, WSU Soil Scientist Emeritus, and Everett Chu, Owner of Azusa Farm and Gardens LLC, Certified Professional Horticulturist and Landscape Designer, to the Annual Gardening Workshop. Dr. Cogger will discuss “Assessing and Amending Your Garden Soil,” with guidelines for testing, fertilization and organic  Continue Reading

Love to problem solve? Interested in gardening? Looking for a fun way to get involved? Applications are now being accepted for the 2019 San Juan County WSU Master Gardener Training Program. Volunteer trainees receive over 60 hours of training, both in the classroom and online. The training is taught by local and regional experts and  Continue Reading

by Theresa Simendinger… KYI Walks are Great Events to Find New Areas and Trails on San Juan Island On September 22 seven brave folks, in spite of morning-long rains, met at Horsetrail Road for a tour of the Mitchell Hill area …led by a horse! The mare above is Zanzibar, a Tennessee Walker who did  Continue Reading

From the Master Gardeners… Did you know that most plant problems are not the result of disease or insects? But differentiating between a disease, a pest, or a disorder to correctly treat the problem can be a real challenge. Last year’s popular keynote speaker, Dr. Linda Gilkeson, returns to the Master Gardeners Annual Gardening Workshop  Continue Reading

Thanks to Nancy DeVaux for sharing her visit to the Land Bank’s Lake Zylstra Preserve… (click on the photos for a larger image). “As the rain let up Sunday afternoon a steady flow of islanders showed up at the Open House to get an early look at Zylstra Lake, a new 60-acre acquisition by the  Continue Reading

Would you like your garden to be a remarkable reflection of who you are and what you care about? To be a landscape that supports wildlife and creative exploration? Join keynote speaker Lorene Forkner Edwards and the San Juan County Master Gardeners at their popular Annual Gardening Workshop for inspiration and truly workable ideas to  Continue Reading

Cover Cropping Workshop Get ahead of spring weeds now with a fall cover crop! Attend a free WSU San Juan County Extension workshop on how to use cover cropping to control weeds and build soil this winter.  Chris Benedict, WSU Extension will present a hands on workshop at Morningstar Farm. Topics will include pros and  Continue Reading

We’re ready to launch Mount Grant trail construction and welcome any trail blazers interested in helping! Starting October 6th, we’ll meet Saturdays (10/6, 10/13, 10/20)  and Wednesdays (10/10, 10/17, 10/24) working from 10am to 2pm. Trail construction will involve brushing, limbing, and transplating vegetation; moving rocks, timbers, and brush piles; and grubbing/grading trail surfaces.    We’ll meet  Continue Reading

Dr. Astrid van Ginneken has worked with the Center for Whale Research since 1987. She is co-principle investigator for CWR’s Orca Survey and has published both scientific and popular articles in addition to a book about killer whales. Astrid has great enthusiasm for Southern Resident orcas and her stories of these wonderful creatures are beautifully  Continue Reading

Salish Seeds Native Plant Sale  Sunday, September 23 – 1pm to 3pm at Red Mill Farm Nursery, San Juan Island… Come on out to the Salish Seeds Project nursery at Red Mill Farm, where you’ll find camas bulbs, wildflowers, Garry oak seedlings, and seed packets of other native plants for sale. Limited quantities on hand. Directions to  Continue Reading

For September’s Know Your Island walk, follow San Juan Islander Theresa Simendinger and her horse Zanzibar on a walk along her favorite trail; the Horse Trails on Mitchell Hill. She will make stops along the way and tell us about building trails for horses, how to share the trail, what it is like to take  Continue Reading

There will be an Open House at Zylstra Lake Preserve on Sunday September 30 from noon to 4:00 pm, at Zylstra Lake Preserve, San Juan Island… The San Juan County Land Bank and San Juan Preservation Trust board members and staff are hosting an open house at the preserve where you can learn about the project,  Continue Reading

On October 13thfrom 11 am to 5 pm, the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) will deliver a free training session in Friday Harbor, WA for citizens interested in surveying for marine debris. The COASST Marine Debris program is focused on the intersection of science, conservation, and communities. Rather than simply identifying debris, the  Continue Reading

Fred Schumacher shares this awesome photo he shot from the air of the sun shining on Friday Harbor. Be sure to click on it to see a larger version. Thanks for sharing Fred! Mother Nature Loves Friday Harbor – Or, at least it looked like it Monday evening from a Kenmore Caravan heading North to  Continue Reading

Amy Lambert, lecturer at the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, University of Washington Bothell, will be giving a Pub Night Talk: “Encountering Rarity: Restoring the Endangered Island Marble Butterfly”. Once thought to be extinct, the Island Marble butterfly is making a comeback in the San Juan Islands. Lambert, a conservation biologist, explains why saving the  Continue Reading

Here’s a note from Safe Shippers… Proudly, our San Juan County Council Members recently joined their Canadian counterparts, the Islands Trust Council, in calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to abandon the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project, once and for all. As Safe Shippers well know, if approved, this project would increase tanker traffic by 700%  Continue Reading

What types of woodpeckers might you see on the San Juan Islands?   How can you tell if they are living in your woodland? Join Shona Aitken, Education Coordinator at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehab Center to find out more about these fascinating birds and their important role in our local forests.   Refreshments are courtesy  Continue Reading